NEWS FILE PHOTO Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes speaks at a town hall meeting on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019. Barnes says he attended a conference focusing on Alberta separatism in a personal capacity, not as a member of the provincial government’s Fair Deal Panel.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Drew Barnes says he attended a conference focusing on Alberta separatism in a personal capacity, not as a member of the provincial government’s Fair Deal Panel.
The seventh annual Essentials of Freedom Conference, which was held in Red Deer on Nov. 15 and 16, was titled “Meeting the Challenge of Western Separation.”
Barnes told the News he attends every year, which he says offers multiple perspectives on its annual theme.
“This one did talk about staying in Canada. It talked about asserting more of Alberta’s independence within Canada. It did harness some separation ideas, but for the most part it was a real good meeting for the people who there to discuss the main options,” he said.
Barnes emphasized his attendance in Red Deer wasn’t on official government business.
“I went on my own. I’ve always gone on my own. I paid for it and my hotel room on my own,” he said. “But I’m willing to listen and learn, and talk to Albertans any time.”
The conference included presentations from People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day, Postmedia columnists Lorne Gunter and John Robson, and Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation Alberta director Franco Terrazzano, among others.
Barnes said he was impressed with Bernier’s talk.
“In all honesty, Maxime Bernier spoke at great length about the strengths of Canada, the strengths of a smaller federal government with more autonomy for provinces and regions, more individual strength, but a strong Canadian economic and social partnership,” he said. “That was my main takeaway”
There’s a lot of “economic fear” in Alberta that is propelling separatist sentiment, Barnes added.
“Albertans are fearful, but are also strongly dynamic,” he said. “They’re looking for solutions.”
Barnes sits on the nine-member Fair Deal Panel to examine ways for Alberta to assert itself within confederation, which reports back to the government in four months and includes former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, as well as Barnes’s caucus mates Miranda Rosin and Tany Yao.
It will examine the possibility of various policy maneuvers, such as establishing a provincial police force and pension plan, as well as requiring public bodies seek provincial permission before entering into contracts with the federal government and seeking to pursue a stronger role in international relations.
“If doing things like this – asserting our independence – leads some day to fair representation in the Senate, fair representation in the House of Commons, if leads to – maybe not on the top of the list – fair equalization transfers payments, then I think there’s lots of economic benefits to do these things, some of them short term, some of them long term,” he said.
